Tag Archives: Backyard

Saturday’s Critters – Hike at Ray Harral Nature Center and More!

It has been raining a lot in Tulsa lately. It makes the trails muddy and I don’t want to damage them so I go places with more sustainable trails. Fortunately Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow has asphalt paved trails so that is one of my go to’s when I get the yen to go hiking when things are muddy.

I found this male northern cardinal. I brought my good camera and he was nice enough to sit still while I got his photo. I saw glimpses of other birds but didn’t get their photos.

Found this young squirrel playing coy with me.

I used the Merlin App to track who else was around. I got a glimpse of a red-eyed vireo. The Fish Crow called loudly as did the Carolina Wren.

I spotted this painted rock in one of the pollinator gardens at the center. I put it in my pocket and carried it around during my hike and then put it in a different pollinator plot not very far from where I found it. I used to love making painted rocks and hiding them. I am going to get some paint and sealer and try again. I’m not much of an artist and I settled on a yellow sunburst on a blue background. A friend of mine mocked me saying that Walmart was going to sue me for infringing on their logo.

When I first started I hid them way too well and nobody was finding them. I guess from my geocaching background. So I started putting them in more visible places and that worked out better.

A bunny wandered into range in my backyard trailcam.

And a brown thrasher.

Yesterday we got a reprieve from the rain so son and I mowed the yard. I mowed the front as he caught up on his beauty sleep. I trimmed the front and backyards. My 35 year old cord electric trimmer finally quit a couple weeks ago and I got a nice battery powered model to replace it. Much more powerful and convenient than dragging a cord around all over the place.

So son mowed the backyard. He likes to be creative in his patterns. Used to drive me crazy cuz of all the mohawks he left but now he is still creative yet no more mohawks. (Mohawks are unmowed strips of grass that look kind of like a Mowhawk haircut.) I think he got tired of mowing the yard twice.

It got hot, yesterday, here I am all cleaned up doing my zombie walk in the 105F heat. (I don’t think it got to 105 but it was still hot.)

Don’t forget to cheer for the Oklahoma Thunder Sunday evening when they battle the Indiana Pacers in the final game of the NBA Championship!

I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of talented photographers participate.

Shadow Shot Sunday – Shady Cooling

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My wife and I had coffee yesterday at place that has this nice outdoor space which always has a breeze. I love the sails that they use for shade. They actually allow some light through. I’ve been thinking about something like that for our back patio which is nice but doesn’t really have much shaded area. Here in Oklahoma with our high winds I think it would be imprudent to do this as a do it yourself project. The wind loads on the sails and supporting post would be considerable. Fortunately I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer and knows how to do those kinds of calculations.

I fired up the drone yesterday to get a few photos of the midday sky. I also pointed the camera straight down to our backyard. You can see our patio with no shade. The orange object in the middle of the yard is the drone landing pad and just to the left of it is me, piloting the aircraft. This is at about 40 meters above ground level.

And I lowered it to about 20 meters and took another photo.

And this is what I was taking photos of while the camera was pointed out. Check out my Skywatch Friday post next week for more.

So, should I see what would it entail to get some shade sails over our back patio?

ShadowShot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters in Tulsa

I aimed the trailcam at a hidden corner of the backyard and when I pulled the chip a few days later I found this image of a fox!! It is beautiful and very small. That pot is only about 15 inches tall.

And here is our rescue terrier Sadie leaping at something. When we play fetch with a ball she bounds after the ball leaping in the air as she goes. She’s a fun dog.

My wife and I found this goose family on a hike.

I think this is a yellow crowned night heron. I found it at Lafortune Park here in Tulsa. I’ve seen them along this creek before.

Here is Lizzie the cat. I am still recovering from my knee replacement surgery and I am itching to get back to yoga so I thought I would try an online class at home. Lizzie wanted to join in but wanted my mat. Found out that I am not ready for regular yoga quite yet. Fortunately there are challenging chair yoga classes that I can take.

And our sleepy little tiny Pomeranian, Kodi. He doesn’t know that he’s tiny is a problem.

A short 20 second video of a few of the birds from the bird feeder cam in our backyard.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Backyard Creatures

A squirrel with a long tail just chilling on the fence watching me take his photo from inside the house.

A compilation of four videos recently from our ebird camera. A male cardinal, a mourning dove, a squirrel, and a grackle. We have lots of visitors to our feeder.

Saturday’s Critters

Dismal Shadows

The northwst corner of our backyard is looking a little dismal right now at the tail end of winter but I love teh shadow of our north/south fence projected on our east/west fence. And we got a bonus tree shadow from our neighbor and a bird feeder shadow. Just don’t look at the cast about yard furniture, random utility boxes, leaves and other debris.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Backyard Warm Afternoon Critters

Last Monday it was warm, all day. I declared it a shorts day and took a drink, my book, and camera out to the backyard.

Robins were out and about.

This is the same robin only on a fence and turned away. Amazing to me how they look like a completely different bird.

The mourning doves were out and about. They are such calm birds.

I got some golden hour light on this one.

This is a 29 second video summarizing the non-sparrow birds that visit the camera feeder. I’m up to about 220 visits a day. Almosts all of them house sparrows with some juncos thrown in. So what I call interesting birds is not very many. That’s okay.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Backyard and More

A flock of sparrows mobbing our feeder

Cardinals don’t seem to mind sharing

Squirrels want it all for themselves

A squirrel getting a drink and scrutinizing the trailcam

Catching Kodi, the Pomeranian, in the back yard

I went on a hike at Ray Harral Nature Center. Most of the critters were elusive. This fat little guy watched me while I walked by as he ate his lunch.

I could hear birds but didn’t see them except for glimpses of the cardinal.

I still haven’t seen a Carolina Wren in real life. I don’t add birds to my life list unless I see them and get a photograph. I think I am up to eight birds on my list. Don’t laugh at me.

I went on a walk along the Arkansas River and saw these. I think they are seagulls.

That’s a wrap. I’m wishing everyone and their families a Happy and Healthy New Years.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – In and Out Edition

Here’s a sculptural critter, some sort of heron I think at the Linnaeus Demonstration Gardens.

And another artistic critter. This little girl on the back of a turtle at the Tulsa Botanic Garden.

I hardly ever use my drone for critter photography and this is “Appeal to the Great Spirit” at Woodward Park. I used my drone to get a different perspective on this sculpture.

In the backyard I got this squirrel getting his photo taken.

And a bunny out past 3 am.

And this leaping squirrel.

And some birds buzzing the backyard on a high speed low altitude run.

And these guys going for suet feeder.

And a Canadian Goose at Woodward Park contemplating the pros and cons of staying vs migrating.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Birds of a Feather

This sight greeted me the other morning. A red shouldered hawk squatting on my trailcam in our backyard. I think he was looking for a mouse. We have bird feeders in the backyard which attracts a few birds and a whole bunch of squirrels and a few mice.

The trailcam captured this cat in our backyard a while back. I’m thinking he might be carrying a mouse in his mouth.

I went to Philbrook Museum of Art the other day. I saw this squirrel resting for the intense midday heat.

And this big ole hippo sculpture made out of car bumpers.

I rode my bike on the Arkansas River the other day and found this egret fishing in the Arkansas River.

And this group of geese hanging out.

And this cross species collection of egrets and great blue herons sharing their fishing grounds.

After years of construction Tulsa is opening up the new pedestrian bridge and putting the new Zink Lake Dam into service this weekend. I’m going to wait until the hubbub has died down a little bit before I go check it out.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.

Backyard Trail Camera Shadows

I got a trail camera that I use just for the backyard. Mostly I train it on our bird feeders or baths and occasionally on the ground to see what kind of critters are lurking there. It is motion activated and during windy times tree and shrub branches can set it off. It’s a numbers game. I’ll literally get 1000 to 2000 shots and I get maybe two to four that are worth anything. I don’t do video any longer because screening and editing video just takes too long.

This time though I captured a couple of bird shadows.

I love the grackle shadow on the fence. The grackle is above and to the left of the shadow. Grackles are just noisy riotous birds. I wish they would go away. They do make cool shadows though. There is another bird to the left of the feeder and at the same angle. We don’t see his shadow though.

I think I finally figured out this photo. The Shadow shows a long bird. Who knows though because at nearly noon, the sun is pretty high. I’m thinking that is from the bird up above and to the left of the shadow. It looks like a hawk or something. Maybe a small sharp shinned hawk. We have lots of prey for them. I’ve seen the hawks land on the ground and walk into shrubs and come out with baby rabbits. We also have squirrels and lots of birds.

I am linking up with Lisa’s Shadows Shot Sunday